Commander in Chief is an American political drama television series that focused on the fictional administration and family of Mackenzie Allen (portrayed by Geena Davis), the first female president of the United States, who ascends to the post from the vice presidency after the death of the sitting president from a sudden cerebral aneurysm.
The series began broadcasting on ABC on Tuesday, September 27, 2005, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, although most countries outside North America began screening the series in mid-2006.
The show was ranked No. 1 on Tuesday nights until Fox's American Idol started in January. The show was also the No. 1 new show of the season until CBS' Criminal Minds surpassed it. Its major competitor in the 9:00 p.m. timeslot was Fox's House, which aired after American Idol.
The series was created by Rod Lurie, writer and director of the films The Contender and Deterrence.
The network replaced Lurie with Steven Bochco as showrunner. After ratings continued declining, Bochco was replaced by Dee Johnson. Further declining ratings brought about a hiatus, a timeslot change and ultimately cancellation announced in May 2006, with the final episodes airing the following month.
Contents
Characters
Main
Geena Davis as President Mackenzie Allen
Donald Sutherland as Speaker Nathan Templeton
Harry Lennix as White House Chief of Staff Jim Gardner
Kyle Secor as First Gentleman Rod Calloway
Ever Carradine as Press Secretary Kelly Ludlow
Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Richard McDonald, a media consultant
Matt Lanter as Horace Calloway, President Allen's son, twin of Rebecca
Caitlin Wachs as Rebecca Calloway, President Allen's older daughter, twin of Horace
Jasmine Anthony as Amy Calloway, President Allen's younger daughter
Recurring
Anthony Azizi as Vince Taylor, personal aide to President Allen
Natasha Henstridge as Jayne Murray, Chief of Staff to Speaker Templeton
Peter Coyote as Vice President Warren Keaton
Polly Bergen as Kate Allen, President Allen's mother
Matt Barr as Mike Fleming, Rebecca's boyfriend
Julie Ann Emery as Secret Service Agent Joan Greer
Scott Atkinson as Steve
Episodes
"Little Shop of Horace"
This episode was scheduled to air on February 21, 2006, after "Wind Beneath My Wings", and a promo was released.
Mac weighs her options on how to deal with a situation in Africa when she learns genocide is taking place in a country there, and it becomes clear there are no easy solutions. Meanwhile, at Dickie's suggestion, Mac considers firing her current Cabinet - many of them holdovers from Teddy Bridges' administration - and bringing in her own in order to start with a clean slate going into her re-election campaign. At the same time, Rod makes a scheduled appearance at a joint U.S.-Cuban children's gymnastics convention, where a freak accident sparks an international situation, and Horace asks Rebecca's friend, Stacey, for help with his homework—but the two end up doing more than just studying.
The episode was written by Tom Szentgyörgyi and directed by Carol Banker.
Critical reception
Commander in Chief received mixed reviews (Davis's performance was largely praised as being a "successful comeback vehicle"), with an aggregate score of 56/100 (26 reviews) on Metacritic. Critics in major U.S. media, cited on the review site Rotten Tomatoes were generally enthusiastic. Some critics described the series as lacking "credibility," approaching "fantasy," and being less about the presidency than about "gender politics."
Reason magazine charged that the series glorified the "Imperial Presidency" and that it favored using government force to impose the personal values of some Americans on others who disagreed with them and to impose the values of those Americans on the rest of the world.
Negative comparisons were drawn with 24's black president David Palmer, as while in that show a black president was depicted as having been voted into office under normal circumstances, Commander in Chief's storyline showed a female president only coming into the presidency because the existing president dies in office.
On the day the series premiered, Davis was reported to have said in an interview, "This is a show about every aspect of the life of a person who is president, the personal side and the public side." A November 2005 review in USA Today noted the show's focus was more on Allen's family than world or national political events; in the same review, Allen's leadership style was compared and contrasted favorably with that of Josiah Bartlet of The West Wing. A reviewer for United Features Syndicate wrote that "While 'Commander' avoids the overt wonkery of 'West Wing,' it also fails to give its audience much credit for knowing history or current events."
Ratings
The series had good ratings initially, but they waned in subsequent weeks.
The series went on hiatus after its January 24, 2006 episode. In its place, ABC promoted a new Arrested Development-type show titled Sons & Daughters. Commander in Chief was scheduled to return on April 18. However, on March 29, ABC announced that it would instead return on April 13 and move from its Tuesday 9 p.m. slot to a 10 p.m. slot on Thursdays, directly competing with CBS hit Without a Trace and longtime NBC standby ER. Some media experts thought that ABC was hoping the show could be saved by gaining viewers from the surprise reality hit American Inventor aired right before Commander in Chief.
ABC pulled the series from its lineup on May 2, 2006, and on May 13 announced that the show had been cancelled. The remaining three episodes of the season were broadcast after the ratings year had ended.
Home media
On April 28, 2006, Buena Vista Home Video formally announced the release of Commander in Chief: The Complete First Season. However, following the show's cancellation, it was decided that it should be split into two volumes.
In Italy, the 5 DVD boxset was released on December 1, 2006 and it contains all original episodes dubbed in Italian plus voice tracks in English and Spanish and also special features the Pilot episode with comments by Rod Lurie and deleted scenes.
International broadcasts
Australia - Previously: Seven Network Australia (Original airing) Currently: 7TWO (Encore Screening - 2009). Also screening on Disney plus Australia.
Asia - STAR World, Hallmark Channel
Belgium - Fox life
Bulgaria - Fox life as "Главнокомандващ"
Canada - CTV (English), Historia (French)
Denmark - TV 2
Estonia - Fox life
Finland - Nelonen
France - M6 then Téva
Germany - Sat.1 as "Welcome, Mrs. President"
Hong Kong - ATV World as 最高統帥 (Commander in Chief)
Hungary - Viasat 3 as "Az elnöknő" (Mrs. President)
India - STAR World
Indonesia - Metro TV
Republic of Ireland - RTÉ One
Israel - Yes Stars as "Gvirti Hanasie" (Madam President)
Italy - Rai Uno and Fox Life as "Una donna alla Casa Bianca" (A woman at the White House)
Japan - Fox life as "マダム・プレジデント 星条旗をまとった女神"
Kenya - NTV
Latin America - Sony Entertainment Television